John Roberto's book, Faith Formation 2020: Designing the Future of Faith Formation, includes this chart of four scenarios. See the strategies for engaing in faith development for each person, no matter where they are coming from.

My relationship with Facebook has been contentious throughout the years. I can still remember when Facebook made its debut on my college campus, and I intentionally made the decision that I was not going to get sucked in. Witnessing countless friends become slaves to their virtual communities, I wanted no part in their Facebook.

In the summer of 2006, a camp coworker sent me an email request to join Facebook. The only thing stopping me from having an account created was …

A wise educator once told me, “Learning is the residue that’s left over after the experience is over.” If this is true, then how has our Christian witness invited us to experience and think about the world around us? In the case of Abraham and Sarah, God said to Abraham, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name …

By Dr. Nancy Going, Director of the CYF Distributed Learning Program at Luther Seminary

If you've tracked Fuller's Sticky Faith Initiative at all, you would quickly see that the study results call the church to real changes in youth ministry practice. In fact, those changes are remarkably similar to the ones that Luther Seminary's EYM study also encouraged. The bottom line is, many people in the church are talking about how youth ministry needs to change. And they are all calling …

As we explore confirmation, here is a resource to move the dialogue into action.

Your ministry is a game worth playing in this life, and we want to help you set yourself up to win. There’s a great deal at stake! The goal-setting process below is to help you take what you’ve learned and design a way to bring it to life in your ministry: create a “winnable game”.

By Dr. Nancy Going, Director of the CYF Distributed Learning Program at Luther Seminary

And that would be in people.

Not in things running more smoothly.

Not in a calendar.

Not do they like the curriculum better.

Why not, for one year, focus your goals for ministry on observing Holy Spirit led change in your student's lives and way of engaging with their faith and with the world. What activities with them might bring you to that goal?

Bet you've got your head down now! We know you are working hard on getting all kinds of things ready for "Back to School."

Including Confirmation.

At FirstThird.org, we're going to use this month to keep pushing what you might be thinking about how you are going to approach this critical ministry with your youth. It's critical not because of what you do together on any individual Wednesday night (or whenever you have your time together). It's critical because …